Preparation for Death - Consideration XXX

Prayer.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; for every one that asketh, receiveth.” – Luke, xi. 9, 10.

FIRST POINT.
Efficacy of Prayer.

Not only in this, but in a thousand places in the Old and the New Testament, God promises to hear all who pray to him. Cry to me, and I will hear thee.¹ “Call upon me, and I will deliver you from all dangers.”² If you ask anything in My name, that I will do.³ Whatsoever you shall ask through my merits, I will grant. You shall ask whatever you will, and it shall he done unto you.⁴ Ask as much as you wish: all that you ask will be given you. There are many other similar passages. Hence Theodoret has said that prayer is one, but can obtain all things. St. Bernard says that when we pray, the Lord will give either the grace we ask, or one that is more useful to us.⁵ The prophet animates us to pray by assuring us that God is all mercy to those who invoke his aid. Thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild, and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon Thee.⁶ The words of St. James are still more encouraging. If any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth abundantly to all men, and upbraideth not.⁷ This apostle tells us that when we pray to the Lord, he opens his hands, and gives us more than we ask. He giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not. He does not reproach us with the offences that we have offered to him; but, when we pray to him, he appears to forget all the injuries that we have done him.

St. John Climacus used to say that prayer in a certain manner forces God to grant us whatsoever we ask of him. “Prayer piously offers violence to God.”⁸ But it is, as St. Tertullian says, a violence which is dear to him, and which he desires from us.⁹ Yes; for, as St. Augustine says, God has a greater desire to give us his graces, than we have to receive them.¹⁰ The reason is, because God is of his own nature infinite goodness. Hence he feels an infinite desire to impart his goods to us. Hence St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to say, that God feels as it were under an obligation to the soul that prays to him; because by prayer it opens to him the way by which he can satisfy his desire of dispensing his graces to us. David says that the goodness of God, in instantly hearing all who pray to him, showed him that he was his true God. In what day soever I shall call upon Thee, behold, know Thou art my God.¹¹ Some, observes St. Bernard, complain that God is wanting to them; but the Lord far more justly complains that many are wanting to him by neglecting to ask his graces. Of this precisely the Redeemer appears to have complained one day to his disciples. Hitherto you have not asked anything in My name: ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.¹² As if he said: Do not complain of me if you do not enjoy complete happiness; complain of yourselves for not having asked my graces: ask me for them henceforth, and you shall be satisfied.

Hence, in their conferences, the ancient monks came to the conclusion, that there is no exercise more conducive to salvation than to pray always, and say: “Lord, assist me; incline unto my aid, O God.”¹³ The Venerable Paul Segneri used to say of himself, that in his meditations he was at first accustomed to spend his time in pious affections; but, having afterward learned the great efficacy of prayer, he endeavored generally to employ himself in petitions to God. Let us always do the same. We have a God who loves us to excess, and who is solicitous for our salvation, and therefore he is always ready to hear all who ask his graces. The princes of the earth, says St. Chrysostom, give audience only to a few; but God gives audience to all who wish for it.¹⁴

Affections and Prayers.

Eternal God! I adore Thee, and I thank Thee for all the benefits Thou hast bestowed upon me,—for having created me, for having redeemed Me through Jesus Christ, for having made me a Christian, for having waited for me when I was in sin, and for having so often pardoned me. Ah, my God! I should never have offended Thee, if in my temptations I had recourse to Thee. I thank Thee for the light by which Thou now makest me understand that my salvation consists in praying to Thee, and in asking graces of Thee. Behold, I entreat Thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to give me a great sorrow for my sins, holy perseverance in Thy grace, a good death, heaven, but above all, the great gift of Thy love, and perfect resignation to Thy most holy will. I well know that I do not deserve these graces, but Thou hast promised them to all who ask them of Thee through the merits of Jesus Christ; through these merits I hope and ask for them. O Mary! thy prayers are always heard; pray for me.

SECOND POINT.
Necessity of Prayer.

Let us also reflect on the necessity of prayer. St. Chrysostom says that, as the body without the soul is dead, so the soul is dead without prayer. He also teaches that, as water is necessary to prevent the decay of plants, so prayer is necessary to preserve us from perdition.¹⁵ God wills that all men be saved,¹⁶—and is unwilling that any be lost. The Lord . . . dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any one should perish, but that all should return to penance.¹⁷ But he also wishes that we ask him for the graces necessary for salvation. For, on the one hand, it is impossible for us to observe the divine commands, and save our souls, without the actual assistance of God; and on the other, ordinarily speaking, God will not give us his graces unless we ask them from him. Hence, the holy Council of Trent has declared that God has not commanded impossibilities; because he either gives us the proximate and actual grace to fulfil his precepts, or he gives us the grace to ask him for this actual aid.¹⁸ St. Augustine teaches, that God gives without prayer the first graces, such as vocation to the faith and to repentance; but all other graces, and particularly the gift of perseverance, he gives only to those who ask them.¹⁹

Hence, theologians, after St. Basil, St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, Clement of Alexandria, and others, teach, that for adults prayer is necessary as a means of salvation; so that, without it, it is impossible to be saved. And the most learned Lessius says that this doctrine must be held as of faith.²⁰

The Scriptures are clear on this point. We ought always to pray.²¹ Pray, lest ye enter into temptation.²² Ask, and you shall receive.²³ Pray without ceasing.²⁴ The words, we ought, pray, ask, according to St. Thomas (3 part, qu. 39, art. 5) and the generality of theologians, imply a strict precept, which binds under grievous sin particularly in three cases. First, when a person is in the state of sin; secondly, when he is in danger of death; and thirdly, when he is in great danger of falling into sin. Theologians teach that, ordinarily, he who neglects prayer for a month, or at most, for two months, is guilty of a mortal sin (Less., loco citato). The reason is, because prayer is a means without which we cannot obtain the helps necessary for salvation.

Ask, and you shall receive. He who asks, receives; then, says St. Teresa, he who does not ask, does not receive. And before her, St. James said the same thing. You have not, because you ask not.²⁵ Prayer is particularly necessary to obtain the virtue of continence. And, said the wise man, as I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, . . I went to the Lord, and besought Him.²⁶ Let us conclude this point. He who prays, is certainly saved; he who does not pray, is certainly lost. All the elect are saved by prayer; all the damned are lost by neglect of prayer, and their greatest despair is, and will be forever, caused by the conviction, that they had it in their power to save their souls so easily by prayer, and that now the time of salvation is no more.

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, my Redeemer! how have I been able hitherto to live in such forgetfulness of Thee? Thou wert prepared to grant me all the graces that I should ask of Thee; Thou only didst wait for me to ask them. But I have thought only of indulging my senses, and have been indifferent about the privation and loss of Thy love and of Thy graces. Lord! forget all my ingratitude, and have mercy on me. Pardon me all the displeasure I have given Thee, and grant me perseverance. O God of my soul! give me the grace always to ask Thy aid not to offend Thee. Do not permit me to be, as I have hitherto been, negligent in the performance of this duty. Grant me light and strength always to recommend myself to Thee, and particularly when my enemies tempt me to offend Thee again. Grant, O my God! this grace through the merits of Jesus Christ, and through the love which Thou bearest to him. O Lord! I have offended Thee enough. I wish to love Thee during the remainder of my life. Give me Thy love; and may this love remind me to ask Thy aid whenever I am in danger of losing Thee by sin. Mary, my hope after Jesus! through thy intercession I hope for the grace to recommend myself in all my temptations to thee and to thy son. Hear me, O my Queen! through the love which thou bearest to Jesus Christ.

THIRD POINT.
Conditions of Prayer.

Lastly, let us consider the conditions of prayer. Many pray, and do not obtain the object of their prayers, because they do not pray as they ought. You ask, says St. James, and receive not, because you ask amiss.²⁷ To pray well, it is necessary, in the first place, to pray with humility. God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.²⁸ God rejects the petitions of the proud, but does not allow the humble to depart without hearing all their prayers. The prayer of him that humbleth himself shall pierce the clouds, . . . and he will not depart till the Most High behold.²⁹ This holds, even though they have been hitherto sinners. A contrite and humble heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.³⁰ Secondly, it is necessary to pray with confidence. No one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded.³¹ Jesus Christ has taught us to call God, in our petitions for his graces, by no other name than that of Father, in order to make us pray with the same confidence with which a child has recourse to a parent. He, then, who prays with confidence, obtains every grace. All things whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall receive, and they shall come unto you.³² And who, says St. Augustine, can fear that the promises of God, who is truth itself, will be violated?³³ God, says the Scripture, is not like men, who promise, but do not perform, either because they intend to deceive, or because they change their purpose. God is not as a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed. Hath He told then, and will He not do?³⁴ And why, adds the same St. Augustine, should the Lord so earnestly exhort us to ask his graces, if he did not wish to bestow them upon us? By his promises he has bound himself to grant us the graces we ask from him. “By promising,” says St. Augustine, “he has made himself a debtor.”³⁵

But some will say: I am a sinner, and therefore I do not deserve to be heard. In answer, St. Thomas says that the efficacy of prayer to obtain graces depends, not on our merits, but on the divine mercy.³⁶ Every one, says Jesus Christ, that asketh receiveth;³⁷ that is, says the author of the Imperfect Work, “every one, whether he be a just man or a sinner.”³⁸ But the Redeemer himself takes away all fear, saying: Amen, amen, I say to you: If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you.³⁹ As if he said: Sinners, if you are without merits, I have merits before my Father. Ask, then, in my name, and I promise that you will receive whatsoever you ask. But it is necessary to know that this promise does not extend to temporal favors, such as health, goods of fortune, and the like; for God often justly refuses these graces, because he sees that they would be injurious to our salvation. “The physician,” says St. Augustine, “knows better than the patient what is useful to him.”⁴⁰ The holy Doctor adds, that God refuses to some through mercy, what he gives to others through wrath.⁴¹ Hence we should ask temporal blessings only on condition that they will be profitable to the soul. But spiritual graces, such as pardon of sins, perseverance, divine love, and the like, should be asked absolutely, and with a firm confidence of obtaining them. If, says Jesus Christ, you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask Him!⁴²

Above all, perseverance in prayer is necessary. In his commentary on the eleventh chapter of St. Luke, Cornelius a Lapide says, that the Lord “wishes us to persevere in prayer even to importunity.”⁴³ This may be inferred from the following passages of Scripture: We ought always to pray.⁴⁴ Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times. Pray without ceasing.⁴⁵ It may be also inferred from our Lord’s repeated exhortations to prayer. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.⁴⁶ It might be sufficient to have said, ask; but no; the Lord wishes us to understand that we ought to imitate beggars, who do not cease to ask, to entreat, and to knock at the gate, until they receive an alms. But final perseverance, in particular, is a grace which is not obtained without continual prayer. We cannot merit this grace of perseverance; but, according to St. Augustine, it may be merited in a certain manner. “This gift,” says the holy Doctor, “can be suppliantly merited; that is, it may be obtained by supplication.”⁴⁷ Let us, then, if we wish to be saved, pray always, and never cease to pray. And let all confessors and preachers, if they desire the salvation of souls, never cease to exhort their penitents or hearers to prayer. And, in conformity with the advice of St. Bernard, let us always have recourse to the intercession of Mary. Let us ask grace, and ask it through Mary: for what she asks she obtains, and her prayer cannot be fruitless.”⁴⁸

Affections and Prayers.

My God! I hope that Thou hast already pardoned me; but my enemies will not cease to fight against me till death. Unless Thou dost assist me, I shall lose Thee again. Ah! through the merits of Jesus Christ, I ask holy perseverance. Do not permit me to be separated from Thee. And I ask the same grace for all who are at present in the state of grace. I hope, with certainty in Thy promise, that Thou wilt give me perseverance if I will continue to ask it from Thee. But I fear that in my temptations I shall neglect to have recourse to Thee, and that thus I shall relapse into sin. I therefore ask of Thee the grace never more to neglect prayer. Grant that in the occasions in which I shall be in danger of relapsing, I may recommend myself to Thee, and may invoke the aid of the most holy names of Jesus and Mary. My God! this I purpose and hope to do with the assistance of Thy grace. Hear me for the sake of Jesus Christ. O Mary, my Mother! obtain for me the grace that in all dangers of losing God, I may have recourse to thee and to thy Son.

1“Clama ad me, et exaudiam te.” – Jer. xxxiii. 3.

2“Invoca mc. . . . eruam te.” – Ps. xlix. 15.

3“Si quid petieritis me in nomine meo, hoc faciam.” – John, xiv. 14.

4“Quodcumque volueritis, petetis, et fiet vobis.” – 7ohn, xv. 7.

5“Aut dabit quod petimus, aut quod nobis noverit esse utilius.” – In Quadr. s. 5.

6“Tu, Domine, suavis et mitis et multæ misericordiæ omnibus invocantibus te.” – Ps. lxxxv. 5.

7“Si quis vestrum indiget sapientia, postulet a Deo, qui dat omnibus affluentur, et non improperat.” – James, i. 5.

8“Oratio pie Deo vim infert.” – Scala spir. gr. 28.

9“Hæc vis Deo grata est.” – Apolog. c. 39.

10“Plus vult ille dare, quam nos accipere.” – Serm. 105. E. B.

11“In quacumque die invocavero te; ecce cognovi quoniam Deus meus es.” – Ps. lv. 10.

12“Usque modo non petistis quidquam in nomine meo; petite, et accipietis, ut gaudium vestrum sit plenum.” – John, xvi. 24.

13“Deus, in adjutorium meum intende.” – Ps. lxix. 2.

14Aures principis paucis patent, Dei vero omnibus volentibus.

15“Non minus quam arbores aquis, precibus indigemus.” – De or. Deo, l. 1.

16“Omnes homines vult salvos fieri. “ – 1 Tim. ii. 4.

17“Nolens aliquos perire, sed omnes ad pœnitentiam reverti.” – 2 Peter, iii. 9.

18“Deus impossibilia non jubet; sed jubendo monet, et facere quod possis, et petere quod non possis.” – Sess. vi. c. xi.

19“Constat alia Deum dare etiam non orantibus, sicut initium fidei; alia nonnisi orantibus præparasse, sicut usque in finem perseverantiam.” – De done, pers. c. 16.

20“Fide tenendum est, orationem adultis ad salutem esse necessariam, ut colligitur ex Scripturis.” – De Just. l. 2, c. 37. d. 3.

21“Oportet semper orare.” – Luke, xviii. 1.

22“Vigilate et orate, ut non intretis in tentationem.” – Luke, xxii. 40.

23“Petite, et dabitur vobis.” – Matt. vii. 7.

24“Sine intermissione orate.” – 1 Thess. v. 17.

25“Non habetis, propter quod non postulatis.” – James, iv. 2.

26“Et ut scivi, quoniam aliter non possem esse continens, nisi Deus det . . . adii Dominum, et deprecatus sum.” – Wis. viii. 21.

27“Petitis. et non accipitis, eo quod male petatis.” – James, iv. 3.

28“Deus superbis resistit, humilibus autem dat gratiam.” – Ibid. iv. 6.

29“Oratio humiliantis se nubes penetrabit; . . . et non discedet, donec Altissimus aspiciat.” – Ecclus. xxxv. 21.

30“Cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies.” – Ps. l. 19.

31“Nullus speravit in Domino, et confusus est.” – Ecclus. ii. 11.

32“Omnia quæcumque orantes petitis, credite quia accipietis, et evenient vobis.” – Mark, xi. 24.

33“Quis falli timeat, cum promittit Veritas?” – Conf. l. 12. c. 1.

34“Non est Deus quasi homo, ut mentiatur, nec ut filius hominis, ut mutetur. Dixit ergo, et non faciet?” – Num. xxiii. 19.

35“Promittendo, debitorem se Deus fecit.” – Serm. 110, E. B.

36“Oratio in impetrando non innititur merito, sed divinæ misericordiæ.” – 2. 2. q. 178, a. 2.

37“Omnis qui petit, accipit.” – Matt. vii. 8.

38“Omnis, sive justus, sive peccator sit.” – Hom. 18.

39“Amen, amen, dico vobis: si quid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo, dabit vobis.” – John, xvi. 23.

40“Quid infirmo sit utile, magis novit medicus quam ægrotus.” – Ap. S. Prosp. sent. 212.

41“Deus negat propitius quæ concedit iratus.” – Serm. 354, E. B.

42“Si vos, cum sitis mali, nostis bona data dare filiis vestris; quanto magis Pater vester de cœlo dabit spiritum bonum petentibus se!” – Luke, xi. 13.

43“Vult nos esse perseverantes in oratione, usque ad importunitatem.” – In Luc. xi.

44“Oportet semper orare, et non deficere.” – Luke, xviii. 1.

45“Sine intermissione orate.” – 1 Thess. v. 17.

46“Petite, et dabitur vobis; quærite, et invenietis; pulsate, et aperietur vobis.” – Luke, xi. 9.

47“Hoc Dei donum suppliciter emereri potest.” – De dono persev. c. 6.

48“Quæramus gratiam, et per Mariam quæramus; quia, quod quærit, invenit, et frustrari non potest.” – Serm. de Aquæd.

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Preparation for Death - Consideration XXIX

Heaven.

“Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” – John, xvi. 20.

FIRST POINT.
Entrance of a Soul into Paradise.

Let us at present animate ourselves with the hope of heaven, to bear patiently the afflictions of this life, and to offer them to God in return for the sufferings which Jesus Christ endured for the love of us. All these afflictions, sorrows, persecutions, and tears, will one day have an end, and will, if we save our souls, become to us sources of joy and happiness in the kingdom of bliss. This is the ground of courage and hope which the Saviour holds out to us. Your sorrow shall be turned into Joy.¹ Let us then this day make some reflections on the joys of heaven. But what shall we be able to say on these joys, when the most enlightened of the saints knew not how to give us an idea of that happiness which God has prepared for his faithful servants? David could only say that paradise is a good exceedingly to be desired. How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts.² But, my beloved St. Paul, do you, at least, who had the happiness of being rapt up into heaven, declare to us some of the things you have seen. No, exclaims the Apostle, what I have seen it is impossible to describe. The delights of heaven are secret words, which it is not granted to man to utter.³ They are so great that they only who enjoy them are able to comprehend them. All that I can say of them, says the Apostle, is, that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.⁴ No man living has ever seen, or heard, or conceived the beauty, the harmony, the delights which God has prepared for those who love him.

At present it is impossible for us to comprehend the happiness of heaven, because we have no idea but of earthly enjoyments. Were a horse capable of reasoning, he would, if he expected a rich feast from his master, imagine it to consist in excellent hay and oats; for these are the only species of food of which he has any idea. It is thus we form our notions of the happiness of heaven. It is beautiful in the summer to behold at night the starry heaven; it is delightful in the spring to stand on the shore when the sea is unruffled, and to see in its bosom the rocks covered with seaweed, and the fishes gliding through the waters; it is also delightful to be in a garden full of fruits and flowers, ornamented with flowing fountains, and enlivened by the flutter and singing of birds: in such a scene one is tempted to exclaim: Oh! what a paradise! what a paradise! But far different are the delights of heaven. To form some imperfect idea of them, let us reflect that in heaven is an all-powerful God, who has pledged himself to make the soul that loves him happy. Do You wish, says St. Bernard, to know what is in heaven? “There is nothing there that gives displeasure; there is everything that delights.”⁵

O God! what will be the sentiments of the soul on its entrance into that happy kingdom? Let us represent to our minds a young maiden, who, after consecrating herself to the love of Jesus Christ, dies and quits this world. The soul of the young maiden is presented for judgment: the Judge embraces her and pronounces the sentence of her salvation. Her angel-guardian meets and congratulates her; she thanks him for his assistance, and the angel then says: “Rejoice, O happy soul! thy salvation is now secure; come and behold the face of thy Lord.” Behold, the soul now passes beyond the clouds, the spheres, the stars, and enters into heaven. O God! what will be her feelings on first setting her foot in this happy country, and beholding, for the first time, this city of delights! The angels and the saints will come to meet her, and will receive her with a joyous welcome. What shall be her consolation in rejoining there her relatives or friends, who have been already admitted into heaven, and in meeting her holy advocates!

The soul will wish to bend her knees to venerate these saints, but they will say: See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant.⁶ She will thence be carried to kiss the feet of Mary, the Queen of heaven. What tenderness will not the soul experience in first beholding this divine Mother, who gave her so much assistance in the work of her salvation; for then the soul will see all the graces she obtained through the intercession of Mary, who will embrace her with love and tenderness. This Queen of heaven will then conduct the soul to Jesus, who will receive her as his spouse, and will say: Come from Libanus, my spouse . . . thou shalt be crowned.⁷ My spouse, rejoice: there is now an end to tears, to sufferings, and to fears: receive the eternal crown I have purchased for you by my blood. Jesus himself will then present her to receive the benediction of his divine Father, who shall embrace and bless her, saying: Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,⁸ and shall bestow upon her the same happiness which he himself enjoys.

Affections and Prayers.

Behold, O my God! at Thy feet an ungrateful sinner, whom Thou hast created for heaven, but who has so often, for the sake of a wretched pleasure, renounced Thee to Thy face, and has consented to be condemned to hell. But I hope Thou hast already pardoned me all the injuries I have done Thee, for which I am always sorry, and will be sorry as long as I live. Of these injuries I desire to receive from Thee new pardon. But, O God! although my sins have been already forgiven, it will still be always true that I have dared to afflict Thee, my Redeemer, who hast given Thy life to bring me to Thy kingdom. But may Thy mercy be forever praised and blessed, O my Jesus! for having borne me with so much patience, and for having bestowed upon me multiplied graces, instead of chastising me as I deserved. I see, my dear Saviour! that Thou ardently desirest my salvation, and that Thou wishest to bring me to Thy kingdom, that I may love Thee forever; but it is Thy wish that I should first love Thee here on earth. Yes; I wish to love Thee. Though there were no heaven, I would wish to love Thee while I live, with my whole soul and with all my strength. It is enough for me to know that Thou, my God, desirest to be loved by me. My Jesus! assist me by Thy grace; do not abandon me. My soul is immortal: I must then either love Thee or hate Thee for all eternity. Ah! it is my wish to love Thee for eternity, and I wish to love Thee without reserve here, that I may love Thee without reserve hereafter. Dispose of me as Thou pleasest, chastise me as Thou wishest; do not deprive me of Thy love, and then do with me what Thou wishest. My Jesus! Thy merits are my hope. O Mary! I place great confidence in thy intercession. Thou didst deliver me from hell when I was in sin; now that I wish to give myself to God, obtain for me the grace to save my soul, and to become a saint.

SECOND POINT.
Happiness of Heaven.

When the soul has once entered into the happy kingdom of God, there will be nothing to molest it.⁹ God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying-,nor sorrow shall be any more; for the former things are passed away. And He that sat on the throne said: Behold I make all things new.¹⁰ In heaven there is no infirmity, no poverty, no distress; there are no longer the vicissitudes of days and nights, nor of cold and heat; but a perpetual day always serene, an eternal spring always delightful. There are no persecutions; no envy. In that kingdom of love, all love one another tenderly; and each rejoices in the good of the other as if it were his own. There are no fears; because the soul, being confirmed in grace, can no longer sin nor lose her God. Behold I make all things new. Everything is new; everything gives consolation and content.¹¹ The sight will be filled with delight in beholding this city of perfect beauty. How delightful the view of a city in which the streets are of crystal, the palaces of silver, the ceilings of gold, and all adorned with festoons of flowers! Oh! how much more beautiful the city of paradise! how splendid the appearance of these citizens, who are all clothed in royal robes; for, as St. Augustine says, they are all kings. How delightful must it be to behold Mary, who will appear more beautiful than all paradise! But what must it be to see the Lamb of God, the Heavenly Spouse, Jesus! St. Teresa had one transient glimpse of one of the hands of Jesus Christ, and was struck senseless by its beauty. The smell will be regaled with odors, but with the odors of paradise. The ear will be delighted with celestial harmony. St. Francis once heard from an angel a single stroke on a violin, and almost died through joy. What then must it be to hear the whole choir of saints and angels chanting the glories of God! They shall praise Thee forever and ever.¹² What must it be to hear Mary praising God! St. Francis de Sales says that, as the singing of the nightingale surpasses that of all other birds, so the voice of Mary is far superior to that of all the other saints. In a word, in heaven are found all the delights which can be desired.

But the joys we have been hitherto considering are the least of the blessings of heaven. The good which constitutes heaven is God himself, the Sovereign Good. The reward which God promises us, is not merely the beauty, the harmony, and the other joys of this blessed city; the chief reward is God himself,—that is, to see and love God face to face. I am thy reward exceeding great.¹³ St. Augustine says that, if God showed his face to the damned, “hell would be instantly turned into a paradise If delights.”¹⁴ And he adds that, were a departed soul allowed the choice of seeing God and enduring the torments of hell, or of being delivered from them and deprived of the sight of God, “it would prefer to see the Lord, and to suffer these torments.”

During the present life, we cannot comprehend the delight of seeing and loving God face to face: but we may form some notion of it by considering that divine love is so enchanting, that, even in this life, it has sometimes raised up from the earth, not only the souls, but even the bodies of the saints. St. Philip Neri was once lifted up into the air along with a bench which he had grasped. St. Peter Alcantara was also elevated from the earth, and a tree which he held was torn up from the roots. St. Vincent, while he was tormented, spoke, says St. Augustine, in such a manner, that one person appeared to suffer and another to speak.¹⁵ St. Lawrence, while he was on the red-hot gridiron, upbraided the tyrant, saying: “Turn and eat.”¹⁶ “Yes,” says St. Augustine; “for St. Lawrence, inflamed with the fire of divine love, was insensible to the burning heat of the fire.”¹⁷ Besides, how great the sweetness which a sinner experiences on this earth even in weeping over his sins! Hence, St. Bernard used to say: “If it is so sweet to weep for Thee, O my God! what must it be to rejoice in Thee?”¹⁸ What sweetness does not a soul experience when, by a ray of light, God unfolds to it in prayer his goodness, the mercies he has shown it, and the love which Jesus Christ has borne, and still bears, to it! In such moments, the soul melts and faints away through love. Yet in this life we do not see God as he is; we see him only in the dark. We now see through a glass in a dark manner: but then face to face.¹⁹ At present there is a veil before our eyes, and God is seen only with the eyes of faith; but what will be our joy when the veil is removed, and we see God face to face? We shall then see the infinite beauty of God: his infinite greatness, his justice, his perfection, his amiableness, and his infinite love for us.

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, my Sovereign Good! I am that wretch who has turned his back upon Thee, and renounced Thy love. I therefore am undeserving of seeing or of loving Thee. But, to show mercy to me. Thou hast not shown mercy to Thyself, but hast condemned Thyself to a painful and ignominious death, on an infamous gibbet. Thy death, therefore, makes me hope that I shall one day see and enjoy Thee face to face, and that I shall then love Thee with all my strength. But, now that I am in danger of losing Thee forever, now that I am conscious of having lost Thee by my sins, what shall I do during the remainder of my life? Shall I continue to offend Thee? No, my Jesus! I detest with a sovereign hatred the offences I have offered Thee. I feel a sovereign sorrow for having insulted Thee, and I love Thee with my whole heart. Wilt Thou cast off a soul that repents and loves Thee? No: I know, O my Redeemer! that Thou hast said that Thou wilt not reject any one that comes to Thee with a penitent heart. Him that cometh to Me, I will not cast out.²⁰ My Jesus! I renounce all things, and turn to Thee. I embrace Thee, and unite Thee to my heart: do Thou also embrace me, and unite me to Thy heart. I dare to speak in this manner, because I speak and converse with infinite Goodness. I speak with a God who was content to die for the love of me. My dear Saviour! grant me perseverance in Thy love. My dear Mother Mary! through the love which thou didst bear to Jesus Christ, obtain for me this perseverance. Such is my hope, such is my desire.

THIRD POINT.
Heaven is Eternal.

In this life, the greatest pain which afflicts souls that are in desolation and love God, arises from the fear of not loving him, and of not being loved by him. Man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love or hatred.²¹ But in heaven the soul is certain that it loves God, and that he loves it. It sees that it is happily lost in the love of its Lord, and that he embraces it as a beloved child, and that this love will not be dissolved for all eternity. These blessed flames will be augmented by the increased knowledge which the soul will then have of the greatness of the love of God, in becoming man and dying for us; of his love in instituting the Most Holy Sacrament, in which a God becomes the food of a worm. Then also will the soul clearly see all the graces which God has bestowed upon it in delivering it from so many temptations and so many dangers of perdition; it will then understand that the tribulations, infirmities, persecutions, and losses, which it called misfortunes and divine chastisements, were all love, all means intended by divine Providence to conduct it to heaven. It will see particularly the patience of God in bearing with it after so many sins, and the mercies he had shown it in giving it so many lights and invitations to his love. From that blessed mountain it will behold so many souls in hell, condemned for fewer sins than it had committed, and will see that it is saved, that it is in the possession of God, and secure against all danger of ever losing that Sovereign Good for all eternity.

The blessed then will forever enjoy that felicity which, during each moment of eternity, will be always as new as at the first moment of its enjoyment. The soul will always desire and always possess that joy. It shall be always satisfied, and always thirsty: forever thirsty, and always satiated with delights: because the desire of heaven begets no pain, and its possession produces no tediousness. In a word, as the damned are vessels full of wrath, so the blessed are vessels filled with happiness, so that they have nothing more to desire. St. Teresa says that even in this life, when God introduces a soul into the cellar of wine—that is, of his love, it becomes happily inebriated, so that it loses all affections for earthly things. But in entering into paradise, how in more perfectly, as David says, will the elect be inebriated with the plenty of God’s house.²² In seeing God face to face, and in embracing its Sovereign Good, the soul will be so inebriated with love that it will happily lose itself in God—that is, it will entirely forget itself, and will think only of loving, of praising, and of blessing the infinite Good which it possesses.

When, therefore, the crosses of this life afflict us, let us animate ourselves with the hope of heaven to bear them patiently. St. Mary of Egypt, being asked at the end of her life by the Abbot Zozimus, how she had been able to live for so many years in such a desert, replied: With the hope of heaven. When the dignity of Cardinal was offered to St. Philip Neri, he threw up the cap in the air, exclaiming, Paradise! Paradise! At the mention of paradise, Brother Giles, of the Order of St. Francis, was raised up from the ground through joy. Let us likewise, when we are afflicted by the miseries of this life, raise up our eyes to heaven, and console ourselves, saying with a sigh, Heaven! Heaven! Let us reflect that if we be faithful to God, all these sorrows, miseries, and fears will one day have an end, and we shall be admitted into that blessed country, where we shall enjoy complete happiness as long as God will be God. Behold, the saints are expecting us, Mary is expecting us, and Jesus stands with a crown in his hand, to make us kings in that eternal kingdom.

Affections and Prayers.

My dear Jesus! Thou hast taught me this prayer—Thy kingdom come. I therefore now pray that Thy kingdom may come into my heart, so that Thou mayest possess it entirely, and that my soul may possess Thee, its Sovereign Good. O my Jesus! Thou hast spared nothing in order to save me and to acquire my love; save me then, and let my salvation consist in loving Thee always in this life and in the next. I have so often turned my back upon Thee, and yet Thou assurest me that Thou wilt not disdain to embrace me for all eternity in heaven, with as much love as if I had never offended Thee. And knowing this, can I ever love anything else but Thee, who wishest to bestow heaven upon me after I had so often deserved hell? Ah, my Lord! would that I had never offended Thee! Oh! were I born again I would always love Thee. But what is done is done. I can now do no more than give Thee the remainder of my life. Yes, I give it entirely to Thee. I consecrate myself entirely to Thy love. Depart from my heart, all earthly affections; give place to my God, who wishes to possess it entirely. Yes; take possession of my whole being, my Redeemer, my Love, and my God! From this day forward I will think only of pleasing Thee. Assist me by Thy grace. I hope in Thy merits. Augment in me continually Thy love, and the desire of pleasing Thee. Heaven! Heaven! When, O Lord! shall the day come when I shall see Thee face to face, and embrace Thee, without fear of ever more losing Thee? Ah, my God! keep Thy hand upon me, that I may never more offend Thee. O Mary! when shall I see myself at thy feet in heaven? Assist me, my Mother: do not permit me to be lost, and to go forever to a distance from thee and thy Son.

1“Tristitia vestra vertetur in gaudium,” – John, xvi. 20.

2“Quam dilecta tabernacula tua. Domine virtutum.” – Ps. lxxxiii. 2.

3“Arcana verba, quæ non licet homini loqui.” – 2 Cor. xii. 4.

4“Oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, quæ præparavit Deus iis qui diligunt illum.” – 1 Cor. ii. 9.

5“Nihil quod nolis sit, totum sit quod velis.” – De Divers. s. 16.

6“Vide ne feceris: conservus enim tuus sum.” – Apoc. xxii. 9.

7“Veni de Libano, sponsa mea, veni: coronaberis.” – Cant. iv. 8.

8“Intra in gaudium Domini tui.” – Matt. xxv. 21.

9Nihil est quod nolit!

10“Absterget Deus omnem lacrymam ab oculis eorum; et mors ultra non erit; neque luctus, neque clamor, neque dolor erit ultra; quia prima abierunt. Et dixit, qui sedebat in throno: Ecce, nova facio omnia.” – Apoc. xxi, 4.

11Totum est quod velit.

12“In sæcula sæculorum laudabunt te.” – Ps. lxxxiii. 5.

13“Ego sum merces tua magna nimis.” – Gen. xv. 1.

14“Continuo infernus in amænum converteretur paradisum.” – De Tripl. Habit. c. 4.

15“Tamquam alius torqueretur, alius loqueretur.” – Serm, 275, E. B.

16Versa, et manduca.

17“Hoc igne accensus, flammarum non sentit incendia.” – Serm. 206, E. B.

18“Si adeo dulce est flere pro te, quam dulce erit gaudere de te?” – Seal. claustr. c. 6.

19“Videmus nunc per speculum in ænigmate: tunc autem facie ad faciem.” – 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

20“Eum qui venit ad me, non ejiciam foras.” – John, vi. 37.

21“Nescit homo, utrum amore an odio dignus sit.” – Eccles. ix. 1.

22“Inebriabuntur ab ubertate domus tuæ.” – Ps. xxxv. 9.

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Preparation for Death - Consideration XXVIII

The Remorse of the Damned.

“Their worm dieth not.” – Mark, ix. 47.

FIRST POINT.
The Little for which the Damned are Lost.

According to St. Thomas, this worm which dieth not is to be understood of remorse of conscience, which will eternally torment the damned in hell. The remorse which will gnaw the hearts of the reprobate will be many; but the most excruciating will be, first, the thought of the trifles for which they are damned; secondly, the thought of the little which they required to do in order to save their souls; and thirdly, the thought of the great good which they have lost. After Esau had eaten the pottage of lentils for which he had sold his birthright, the Scripture says that, through sorrow and remorse for the loss, he began to roar aloud.¹ Oh! how will the damned howl and roar at the thought of having, for a few momentary poisoned pleasures, lost an eternal kingdom of delights, and of having condemned themselves forever to a continual death! Hence they will weep far more bitterly than Jonathan did when he saw himself condemned to death by his father for having eaten a little honey. I did but taste a little honey, and behold I must die.² O God! what torture will each of the damned feel in thinking that he was the cause of his own damnation! At present our past life appears to us but a dream, a moment. But what will he who is in hell think of the fifty or sixty years which he spent on this earth, when he will be in the abyss of eternity, and, after the lapse of a hundred and a thousand millions of years, will see that his hell only begins? But were these fifty or sixty years all years of pleasure? Perhaps a sinner living without God, always feels happy in his sins! How long do the pleasures of sin last? Only for a few moments. All the remaining hours of the man who lives at enmity with God are full of pain and bitterness. But what will these moments of pleasure appear to the unhappy damned? How will he view that last sin in particular, by which he brought himself to perdition? Then he will say: For a miserable brutal pleasure, which lasted but a moment, and which was scarcely indulged when it vanished like air, I must burn in this fire, in despair, and abandoned by all, as long as God will be God—for all eternity.

Affections and Prayers.

Lord! enlighten me, that I may feel the injustice which I have done Thee, and the eternal chastisements I have deserved, by offending Thee. My God! I feel a great remorse for having offended Thee; but this pain consoles me. Hadst Thou sent me to hell, as I deserved, the thought of the trifle for which I was damned should be the hell of my hell. But now this remorse, I say, consoles me; because it encourages me to hope for pardon from Thee, who hast promised to pardon all who repent. Yes, my Lord! I repent of having outraged Thee. I embrace this sweet pain of remorse. I even entreat Thee to increase it, and to preserve it in my heart till death, that I may always weep bitterly over the offences I have offered to Thee. My Jesus! pardon me. O my Redeemer! who, to procure mercy for me, hadst not mercy on Thyself, but condemnedst Thyself to die through pain in order to deliver me from hell, have mercy on me. Grant that my remorse for having offended Thee may keep me always sorrowful, and, at the same time, inflame my whole soul with love for Thee, who hast loved me so tenderly, who hast borne with me so patiently, and who now, instead of chastising me, enrichest me with Thy lights and graces. I thank Thee, O my Jesus! and I love Thee. I love Thee more than myself. I love Thee with my whole heart. Thou knowest not how to despise a soul that loves Thee. I love Thee. Do not banish me from Thy face. Receive me, then, into Thy friendship, and do not permit me ever more to lose Thee. Mary, my Mother! accept me for thy servant, and bind me to Jesus, thy Son. Ask him to pardon me, to give me his love and the grace of perseverance till death.

SECOND POINT.
The Little that was Required for their Salvation.

St. Thomas says that the principal pain of the reprobate will consist in seeing that they are damned for nothing, and that, if they wished, they could with so much facility acquire for themselves the glory of Paradise.³ The second remorse of conscience, then, will arise from the thought of the little that was necessary to be done for the attainment of salvation. A person who was damned appeared to St. Humbert, and said to him that the most excruciating pain which he suffered in hell was caused by the thought of the trifles for which he was lost, and of the little which he required to do in order to save his soul. The unhappy soul will then say: Had I mortified myself by not looking at such an object; had I overcome human respect at such a time; had I avoided such an occasion of sin, such a companion, such a conversation, I should not now be damned. If I had gone to confession every week; if I had frequented the confraternity; if I had read every day a spiritual book; if I had recommended myself to Jesus Christ and to Mary, I should not have relapsed into sin. I have so often purposed to do these things, but have either neglected my resolutions, or after having begun to practise these exercises, I gave them up, and therefore I am lost.

The torture of this remorse will be increased by the good examples of virtuous friends and companions, which the reprobate has witnessed; and still more by the gifts which God has given him for the salvation of his soul; gifts of nature, such as good health; gifts of fortune, which were so many talents which the Lord had given him, that he might make a good use of them, and become a saint; gifts of grace; so many lights, inspirations, calls, and so many years given to him that he might repair the evil which he had done. But he will see that, in the miserable state to which he is reduced, there is no remedy. He will hear the angel of the Lord proclaiming and protesting that time shall be no more. And the angel whom I saw standing . . . swore by Him that liveth forever and ever . . . that time shall be no longer.⁴ Oh! what cruel swords will all these gifts and graces be to the heart of the unhappy reprobate, when he sees that the time in which he could repair his eternal ruin is already past! With tears and despair he and his companions will say: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.⁵ He will say: if the fatigues to which I had submitted for my damnation had been borne for God, I should have become a great saint; and now what advantage do I derive from them but pain and remorse, which will torment me for eternity? Ah! the thought that it was in his power to be forever happy, and that he must be forever miserable, will torture the damned more than the fire and all the other torments of hell.

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, my Jesus! how hast Thou been able to bear with me? I have so often turned my back upon Thee, and Thou hast not ceased to seek after me. I have so often offended Thee, and Thou hast pardoned me. Ah! impart to me a portion of that sorrow which Thou didst feel in the Garden of Gethsemane for my sins, and which made Thee there sweat blood. I am sorry, O my Redeemer! for having so badly repaid Thy love. O accursed pleasures! I detest and curse you. You have made me lose the grace of my Lord. My Beloved Jesus! I now love Thee above all things, and I renounce all unlawful gratifications, and purpose to die a thousand times, rather than ever more offend Thee. Ah! through that affection with which Thou dost love me on the cross, and offered for me Thy divine life, give me light and strength to resist temptations, and to have recourse to Thy aid whenever I shall be tempted. O Mary, my hope! thou art all-powerful with God; obtain for me holy perseverance, obtain for me the grace never more to be separated from his holy love.

THIRD POINT.
The Great Good that the Damned have Lost.

The third remorse of the damned shall arise from seeing the great good which they have lost. St. John Chrysostom says that the reprobate will be tormented more by the loss of paradise than by the pains of hell!⁶ A certain princess once said: If God gives me a reign of forty years, I will renounce paradise. The unhappy princess reigned for forty years; but now that her soul has departed from this world, what does she say? Certainly she has changed her sentiments. Oh! how great at present must be her affliction and despair at the thought of having, for the enjoyment of an earthly reign of forty years, lost for eternity the kingdom of heaven!

But the torment which will most grievously torture the damned for eternity will arise from the conviction that they have lost heaven and God, their sovereign good, not by any unlucky accident, nor by the malevolence of others, but by their own fault. They will see that they have been created for paradise, and that God placed in their hands the choice of procuring for themselves eternal life or eternal death. Before man is life and death; . . . that which he shall choose shall be given him.⁷ Thus they will see that they had it in their power, if they wished, to be eternally happy, and that they have voluntarily precipitated themselves into that pit of torments, from which they can never escape, and from which no one will ever deliver them. They will see among the elect many of their companions, who were placed in the same, or perhaps in greater, danger of sinning, and who saved their souls because they restrained their passions by recommending themselves to God, or, if they fell into sin, soon repented and gave themselves to God. But because they would not give up sin, they have in the end unhappily gone to hell—they have fallen into that sea of torments without any hope of remedy for all eternity.

Brother, if you too have been so foolish as, by your own free acts, to lose paradise and God for a miserable pleasure, endeavor as soon as possible to apply a remedy, now that you have time. Do not voluntarily continue in your foolishness. Tremble lest you should have to weep over your folly for all eternity. Who knows but this consideration which you now read is the last call which God will give you? Perhaps, if you do not now change your life, if you commit another mortal sin, the Lord will abandon you, and, in punishment of that sin, send you to suffer forever among that crowd of fools who are now in hell, and confess their error (therefore we have erred), but confess it with despair, because they see that it is forever irreparable. When the devil tempts you again to sin, remember hell, have recourse to God and to the Most Holy Virgin. The thought of hell will preserve you from hell, because it will make you have recourse to God. Remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.⁸

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, my Sovereign Good! how often have I lost Thee for nothing! how often have I deserved to lose Thee forever! But I am consoled by the words of Thy prophet: Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.⁹ I must not, then, despair of finding Thee again, O my God! if I sincerely seek Thee. Yes, my God! I now sigh for Thy grace more than for any other good. I am content to be deprived of all things, even of life, rather than see myself deprived of Thy love. I love Thee, O my Creator! above all things; and, because I love Thee, I am sorry for having offended Thee. O my God! whom I have lost and despised, pardon me immediately, and enable me to find Thee again; for I wish never more to lose Thee. If Thou dost admit me again to Thy friendship, I will leave all things, and will seek to love Thee alone. I hope to do so through Thy mercy, Eternal Father! Hear me for the love of Jesus Christ: pardon me, and give me the grace never more to be separated from Thee. If I voluntarily lose Thee again, I ought to fear that Thou wilt abandon me. O Mary, O advocate of sinners! obtain for me the grace to make peace with God, and afterward keep me under thy protection, that I may never more lose him.

1“Irrugiit clamore magno.” – Gen. xxvii. 34.

2“Gustans gustavi paululum mellis, et ecce morior.” – 1 Kings, xiv. 43.

3Principaliter dolebunt quod pro nihilo damnati sunt. et facillime vitam poterant consequi sempiternam.

4“Et angelus quem vidi stantem . . . juravit per viventem in sæecula sæculorum . . . quia tempus non erit amplius.” – Apoc. x. 5.

5“Transiit messis, finita est æstas, et nos salvati non sumus.” – Jer. viii. 20.

6Plus cœlo torquentur, quam gehenna.

7“Ante hominem vita et mors, bonum et malum: quod placuerit ei, dabitur illi.” – Ecclus. xv. 18.

8“Memorare novissima tua. et in æternum non peccabis.” – Ecclus. vii. 40.

9“Lætetu r cor quærentium Dominum.” – Ps. civ. 3.

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Preparation for Death - Consideration XXVII

The Eternity of Hell.

And these shall go into everlasting punishment.” – Matt. xxv. 46.

FIRST POINT.
Hell is Eternal.

Were hell not eternal, it would not be hell. Torments which continue but a short time, are not a severe punishment. The man who is afflicted with an, abscess or cancer submits to the knife or the cautery. The pain is very sharp; but, because it is soon over, the torture is not very great. But, should the incision or cauterization last for a week, or for an entire month, how frightful should be his agony! A slight pain in the eye, or in the teeth, when it lasts for a long time, becomes insupportable. Even a comedy, a musical entertainment, would it continue for an entire day, produces intolerable tediousness. And would it last for a month, or for a year, who could bear it? What then must hell be, where the damned are compelled, not to listen to the same comedy or the same music, nor to submit merely to pains in the eyes, or in the teeth, or to the torture of the knife, or of the red-hot iron, but to suffer all pains and all torments? And for how long? For all eternity. They shall be tortured forever and ever.¹

This belief in eternity is an article of faith; it is not .an opinion, but a truth attested by God in so many places in Holy Scripture. Depart from Me, you accursed, into everlasting fire. And these shall go into everlasting punishment.² Who shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction.³ Every one shall be salted with fire.⁴ As salt prevents putrefaction, so the fire of hell, while it tortures the damned, performs the office of salt by preserving their life.

Now, how great would be the folly of the man who, for the sake of a day’s amusement, would voluntarily condemn himself to be shut up in a dungeon for twenty or thirty years! If hell lasted but a hundred, or even but two or three years, it would be the extreme of folly in a Christian to condemn himself to fire for two or three years for the vile pleasure of a moment. But there is not the question of thirty, of a hundred, or of a hundred thousand years; but there is question of eternity; there is question of suffering forever the same torments—torments which will never end, and will never be mitigated in the slightest degree. The saints then had reason, as long as they were on this earth, and in danger of being lost, to weep and tremble. Blessed Isaias, even while he lived in the desert in fasting and penitential rigors wept and said: Ah! unhappy me, who am. not as yet free from the danger of losing my soul.

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, my God! if Thou hadst sent me to hell, as I have often deserved, and hadst afterward drawn me from it, how deeply should I feel my obligations to Thee! What a holy life would I have begun! And now that Thou hast shown me greater mercy by preserving me from falling into that place of woe, what shall I do? Shall I again offend Thee and provoke Thy wrath, that Thou mayest send me to burn in that prison of rebels against Thy majesty, where so many are buried in fire for fewer sins than I have committed? Ah, my Redeemer! I have hitherto done so; and instead of availing myself of the time which Thou gavest me to weep over my sins, I have spent it in provoking Thee still more. I thank Thy infinite goodness for having borne with me so long. If Thy goodness were not infinite, how couldst Thou have borne with me? I thank Thee for having waited for me till now with so much patience. I thank Thee in a most special manner for the light which Thou now givest me, by which Thou makest me see my .folly, and the injury I have done Thee in insulting Thee so often by my sins. My Jesus! I detest them, and am sorry for them with my whole heart. Through the merits of Thy Passion, pardon me, and assist me with Thy grace, that I may never more offend Thee. I now have just reason to fear that, if I commit another mortal sin, Thou wilt abandon me. My Lord! I entreat Thee to place this just fear before my eyes whenever the devil will tempt me to offend Thee again. My God I love Thee; I do not wish ever more to lose Thee; assist me by Thy grace. O most holy Virgin! do thou also assist me. Obtain for me the grace always to have recourse to thee in my temptations, that I may never again lose my God. Mary, after Jesus, thou art my hope.

SECOND POINT.
The Weight of Eternity.

He that enters hell, will not depart from it for all eternity. This thought made David tremble and say; Let not the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit Shut her mouth upon me.⁵ As soon as the damned fall into that pit of torments, its mouth is closed never to be opened. In hell there is a gate for admission, but none for egress. “There will be a descent,” says Eusebius. “but there will be no ascent.”⁶ In explaining the words of the Psalmist, this author says, and let not the pit shut her mouth; because when it shall have received them, it will be closed above and opened downward!⁷ As long as the sinner remains on this earth, he may hope to reverse the sentence of his damnation; but as soon as death overtakes him in sin, all his hopes are at an end forever. When the wicked man is dead, there shall be no hope any more.⁸ Perhaps the damned may flatter themselves with a false hope, and thus find some relief in their despair. The man who is mortally wounded, confined to his bed, and given over by his physicians, may console himself with the hope of finding a physician or a remedy to heal his wounds. The man who is condemned to the galleys for life may also find comfort in the expectation of being one day delivered from his chains. And may not the damned at least say: Who knows but I shall one day escape from this prison? and thus delude himself with this false hope. No: in hell there is no hope, whether true or false; there is no perhaps. I will set before thy face.⁹ The unhappy damned will always see the sentence of their reprobation written before their eyes. In it they will read, that they will weep forever in that pit of torments. And many shall awake: some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always.¹⁰ Hence the damned not only suffer the torments of each moment, but in each moment they endure the pain of eternity, saying, What I now suffer, I must suffer forever. “They bear,” says Tertullian, “the weight of eternity.”¹¹

Let us then pray to the Lord in the words of St. Augustine: “Here burn, here cut, here spare not, that you may spare for eternity.”¹² The chastisements of this life pass away: Thy arrows pass; but the pains of the next life last forever, the voice of Thy thunder in a wheel.¹³ Let us dread these punishments. Let us dread that thunder of eternal damnation which will issue from the mouth of the Judge in passing sentence against the wicked. “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire.” The Psalmist says: “The voice of thy thunder in a wheel.” A wheel is a figure of eternity, which has no end. I have drawn my sword out of its sheath, not to he turned back.¹⁴ The punishment of hell will be great; but what ought to terrify us more is, that it will be irrevocable.

But the unbeliever say: Can it be just to punish a sin which lasts but a moment, with eternal torments? But how, I ask, can a sinner, for a momentary pleasure, dare to insult a God of infinite majesty? St. Thomas says that, even in human judgments, the punishment of crime is measured, not from its duration, but from its malice.¹⁵ Hell is but a small punishment for mortal sin; an offence against infinite majesty deserves infinite chastisement. “In every mortal sin,” says St. Bernardine Sienna, “an infinite insult is offered to God; but an infinite injury merits infinite punishment.”¹⁶ But, because, says St. Thomas, a creature is not capable of suffering pain infinite in point of intensity, God inflicts punishment infinite in extension or duration.¹⁷

Besides, since the damned are incapable of making satisfaction for their sins, their punishment should be necessarily eternal. In this life penitent sinners can atone for their iniquities only in as much as the merits of Jesus Christ are applied to them. But, from the application of these merits the reprobate are excluded. Hence, since they cannot appease the anger of God, and since their sin is eternal, their punishment also must be eternal. He shall not give to God his ransom. . . . And he shall labor forever.¹⁸ Hence Belluacensis says: “There sin can be forever punished, and can never be expiated;”¹⁹ for, according to St. Augustine, “there the sinner cannot repent.”²⁰ Therefore the wrath of the Lord shall be always provoked against him. The people with whom the Lord is angry forever.²¹ Moreover, the damned, though God should wish to pardon them, are unwilling to be pardoned; for their will is obstinate and confirmed in hatred against God. And St. Jerome says that the reprobate “are insatiable in the desire of sinning.”²² Hence, because the damned refuse to be healed, their wounds are incurable. Why is my wound desperate, so as to refuse to be healed?²³

Affections and Prayers.

Then, my Redeemer! if at this hour I were damned, as I have deserved, I should be obstinate in hatred against Thee, my God! who hast died for me. O God! what a hell should it be to hate Thee, who hast loved me so tenderly, who art infinite beauty, infinite goodness, and worthy of infinite love! Then if I were now in hell, I should be in such an Unhappy state, that I would not even wish for the pardon which Thou now offerest to me. My Jesus, I thank Thee for the mercy Thou hast shown me; and since I now can obtain pardon, I wish to love Thee. Thou offerest me pardon, and I ask it from Thee, and hope for it through thy merits. I am sorry for all the offences I have committed against Thee, O infinite Goodness! Pardon me, then. I love Thee with my whole soul. Ah, Lord! what evil hast Thou done me, that I should have to hate Thee forever as my enemy? And what friend have I ever had who has done and suffered so much for me as Thou, O my Jesus! hast done and suffered for me? Ah, do not permit me ever more to fall into enmity with Thee, and to lose Thy love. Take me out of life, sooner than permit this sovereign evil to befall me. O Mary! take me under thy protection, and do not permit me ever more to rebel against God and against thee.

THIRD POINT.
Eternity is Unchangeable.

In this life death is greatly feared by sinners; but in hell it will be most ardently desired. Men shall seek death, and shall not find it; and they shall desire to die, and death shall fly from them.²⁴ Hence St. Jerome has written: “O death, how sweet should you be to those to whom you have been so full of bitterness.”²⁵ David says, that death will feast on the damned. Death shall feed upon them.²⁶ In explaining this passage, St. Bernardine observes that as, in feeding, sheep eat the blades of grass, and leave the roots untouched; so death feeds on the damned: it kills them every moment, but leaves them life in order to continue to kill them by pains for all eternity. Thus, according to St. Gregory, the damned die every moment without ever dying. Delivered up to avenging flames, they will die always. A man who dies through pain is an object of pity to all who behold him. Perhaps the damned, too, experience commiseration from others? None; they die every moment, and have not, and never will have, any one to take compassion on them. The Emperor Zeno, being one day shut up in a pit, continually cried out: For pity’s sake, open this grave and release me. But no one heard him, and he was found dead, after having eaten the flesh off his arms. The damned cry out from the pit of hell, says St. Cyril of Alexandria, but no one comes to deliver them—no one feels compassion for them.²⁷

And for how long will this their misery last? Forever, forever. In the spiritual exercises of Father Paul Segneri, written by Muratori, it is related that in Rome, a devil in the body of a man possessed, being asked how long he would remain in hell, began to beat his hand against a chair, and answered in a rage: Forever, forever! At hearing this great sermon of two words, forever, forever, many students of the Roman seminary, who were present, made a general confession, and changed their lives. Poor Judas! he has spent more than eighteen hundred years in hell, and his hell is still at its commencement. Poor Cain, he is in fire for more than five thousand eight hundred years, and his hell is at its beginning. Another devil was asked how long it was since he had been sent to hell. He answered, Yesterday. “Flow,” said the person who asked him, “could it be yesterday, when you are damned for more than five thousand years? He replied: Oh! if you knew what is meant by eternity, you would easily conceive how a thousand years, compared with it, are but a moment. If an angel said to one of the damned: You will leave hell, but only after the lapse of as many ages as there are drops of water in the ocean, leaves on the trees, or grains of sand in the sea; he would feel greater joy than a beggar would at hearing of his elevation to a throne. Yes; all these ages will pass away, they will be multiplied an infinite number of times, and hell will be at its commencement. Each of the damned would make this compact with God: Lord, increase my pain as much as Thou wishest, let it last as long as Thou pleasest; but put an end to it, and I am content. But this end will never take place. In hell, the trumpet of divine justice will sound nothing else but these words—forever, forever, never, never.

The damned will ask the devils what is the hour of the. night. Watchman, what of the night?²⁸ When will it end? When will these trumpets, these shrieks, this stench, these flames, these torments cease? Their answer is never, never. And how long will they last? Forever, forever. Ah Lord! give light to so many blind Christians, who, when entreated not to damn themselves, say: If I go to hell, I must have patience. O God! they have not patience to bear the least cold, to remain in an overheated room, or to submit to a buffet on the cheek. And how can they have patience to remain in a sea of fire, trampled by the devils, and abandoned by God and by all, for all eternity!

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, Father of mercies! Thou dost not abandon him who seeks Thee. Thou hast not forsaken them that seek Thee, O Lord.²⁹ I have hitherto turned my back upon Thee so often, and Thou hast not abandoned me: do not abandon me now that I seek Thee. I repent, O Sovereign Good! of having made so little account of Thy grace, which I have exchanged for nothing. Look at the wounds of Thy Son. Listen to his cries, which implore Thee to pardon me; and grant me pardon. O my Redeemer! remind me always of the pains Thou hast suffered for me, of the love Thou hast borne me, and of my ingratitude, by which I have so often deserved hell, that I may always bewail the injury I have done Thee, and that I may live always burning with Thy love. Ah, my Jesus! how can I but burn with Thy love, when I reflect that for so many years I ought to burn in hell, and continue to burn in it for all eternity; when I remember that Thou hast died in order to deliver me from it, and that Thou hast with so much mercy rescued me from that land of misery! Were I in hell, I should now hate Thee there, and should have to hate Thee forever: but now I love Thee, and will love Thee forever. Thou lovest me, and I also love Thee. Thou wilt love me forever unless I forsake Thee. Ah, my Saviour! save me from the misfortune of ever leaving Thee, and then do with me whatsoever Thou pleasest. I merit every punishment, and I accept every chastisement, that Thou mayest deliver me from the punishment of being deprived of Thy love. O Mary, my refuge! how often have I condemned myself to hell, and thou hast preserved me from it. Ah, deliver me now from sin, which alone can deprive me of the grace of God, and bring me to hell.

1“Cruciabuntur die ac nocte in sæcula sæculorum.” – Apoc. xx. 10.

2Discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem æternum. . . Et ibunt hi in supplicium æternum.” – Matt. xxv. 41, 46.

3“Pœnas dabunt in interitu æternas.” – 2 Thess. i. 9.

4“Omnis igne salietur.” – Mark, ix. 48.

5“Neque absorbeat me profundum, neque urgeat super me puteus os suum.” – Ps. lxviii. 16.

6Descensus erit, reditus non erit.

7“Quia, cum susceperit reos, claudetur sursum, et aperietur deorsum.” – De Epiph. et Inf. hom. 3.

8“Mortuo homine impio, non erit ultra spes.” – Prov. xi. 7.

9“Statuam contra faciem tuam.” – Ps. xlix. 21.

10“Alii in vitam æternam, et alii in opprobrium, ut videant semper.” – Dan. xii. 2.

11Pondus æternitatis sustinent.

12Hic ure, hic seca; hic non parcas, ut in æternum parcas.

13“Sagittæ tuæ transeunt, vox tonitrui tui in rota.” – Ps. lxxvi. 19.

14“Eduxi gladium meum de vagina sua irrevocabilem.” – Ezek. xxi. 5.

15“Non, quia homicidium in momento committitur, momentanea pœna punitur.” – 1. 2. q. 87, a. 3.

16“In omni peccato mortali infinita Deo contumelia irrogatur: infinitæ autem injuriæ infinita debetur pœna.” – T. ii. s. 12, a. 2, c. 2.

17Comp. Theol. p. 1, c. 183.

18“Non dabit Deo placationem suam; . . . laborabit in æternum.” – Ps. xlviii. 8, 9.

19“Culpa semper potent ibi puniri, et nunquam potent expiari.” – Spec. Mor. l. 2, p. 3, d. 3.

20Ibi peccator pœnitere non potest.

21“Cui iratus est Dominus in æternum.” – Mal. i. 4.

22Insatiabiles sunt in desiderio peccandi.

23“Factus est dolor perpetuus, et plaga desperabilis renuit curari.” – Jer. xv. 18.

24“Quærent mortem, et non invenient eam; et desiderabunt mori, et fugiet mors ab eis.” – Apoc. ix. 6.

25“O mors, quam dulcis esses, quibus tam amara fuisti!” – Apud. S. Bonnav. Sol. c. 3.

26“Mors depascet eos.” – Ps. xlviii. 15.

27“Lamentantur, et nullus eripit: plangunt, et nemo compatitur.” – Orat. de exitu anni.

28“Custos, quid de nocte?” – Isa. xxi. 11.

29“Non dereliquisti quærentes te, Domine.” – Ps. ix. 11.

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